In 2020, Get Healthy Utah partnered with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute to conduct a survey of city leaders’ perspectives on factors that affect the health of their community. Local governments play an important role in building healthier communities, but sometimes local leaders are not sure about what that role should be.
This survey dug into the perspectives of city leaders throughout Utah on how a person’s health is connected to where they live. It looked at both direct factors that affect health (like physical activity levels) and indirect factors (like access to affordable transportation).
Survey results showed that city leaders have different opinions regarding needs and approaches to community health. About half of city leaders agreed that city government has a role to play in addressing factors that affect health. Many believe that city governments’ role is largely to provide their residents with the infrastructure (like buildings or activities) necessary to make healthy decisions.